The Fourth Day
by Lily Silver-chan
Summary: Link is trying to save Termina from moon destruction when he accidentally stops time. Rated for slightly dark themes.


Link hurried along the underground passage to the Astronomy Tower. There were only five minutes left until the moon crashed, destroying Termina completely. For three days, he had frantically run all over Termina, saving lands from poison and ice, fighting monsters, and meeting all kinds of people. For a while he was happy. He was once again doing what he was best at.  
Link had once saved his homeland, Hyrule, from the rule of an evil Gerudo overlord. It was hard, but knowing that he had helped so many people made it worth it in the end. Link was devastated when Zelda sent him back in time, undoing everything he had worked so hard for.  
He made it to the Astronomy tower. The stairs up to it were painted rainbow colored, and the dome at the top looked like a starry sky. The old astronomer stood in the center, looking up through the telescope. He seemed unfazed by the large, destructive moon above them. The astronomer greeted Link and asked him if he wanted to gaze into the telescope. Link nodded, and looked into the eyepiece.  
A few years after he stopped Ganondorf from taking over Hyrule, he found himself in the strange land of Termina. He had never even heard of the place, but something about it seemed so familiar. The people of Clock Town, in the center of Termina, all resembled people he had met in Hyrule. Even the layout of the land was similar to his home. Although it was different, he couldn't help but care about the people he met as though he already knew them. Link had learned about the strange Majora's mask, and was trying his best to stop it from destroying the world through moon collision.  
Through the telescope, Link saw the skull kid standing on top of Clock Tower. He was jumping around with glee, overjoyed that the terrible fate he wanted for this world was about to happen. Well, not if Link had anything to say about it. He looked away from the telescope and pulled out his ocarina. Link would just have to reset time and start over. Start over... He thought of all the people he had helped, all the lives he had saved. If he went back, the deku scrubs would be plagued by the poison in their swamp. The goron's land would be covered in ice. Mikau would have to die again. Romani and Cremia's ranch would have never been saved. He had accomplished so much already, but there simply wasn't enough time. He will have to save the same people again and again, while others suffered. Link could not help everyone. The young hero brought the ocarina to his lips, then lowered it again. He couldn't do it. The boy was so tired of watching terrible things happen to people, and being able to do nothing.  
Link looked back into the telescope. Skull kid had his arms raised toward the moon; Link couldn't hear him cackling but he knew he was. For the first time since this whole mess had started, a small tear leaked out of the boy's eye. Just as the moon started to glow yellow, and touched down on Clock Tower, Link pulled away from the telescope. He heard the rumbling fade away, and he blacked out.  
"Well, did you see anything interesting?" Link woke up. Nothing seemed to have happened; the old man asked him what he usually did, oblivious to the moon crashing. He had apparently only stumbled as he backed up from the telescope. Link silently shook his head. The astronomy tower was still standing; perhaps the moon hadn't quite destroyed everything yet. Something was off, but Link couldn't quite place it. After a few seconds, he realized what it was.  
Silence. He should have heard the rumbling of the moon, or at least things being destroyed in Clock Town, but he couldn't hear anything. Confused, he went outside. Everything was still standing, and dawn was breaking. He looked up; the moon was nowhere to be seen. Tatl, his fairy companion, flew next to him.  
"It stopped..." she almost whispered. A grin slowly spread across Link's face.  
"We did it!" he shouted into the stillness. His voice echoed across Termina field. He laughed, relieved.  
"Yeah, but how?" Tatl flew in front of his face. "You never reset time, you didn't do anything! You were gonna let everything burn!"  
"But I didn't!" Link laughed again, and ran back inside. He hurried along the underground passage to Clock town.  
"I don't know, something feels wrong," Tatl said as Link hurried along the last stretch of the tunnel, excited to see everyone alive and well. He stepped out into the sunlight and ran to the middle of East Clock Town. The jugglers and Bomber members were not there like they usually were.  
"Where is everybody?" Tatl said a bit more quietly than usual.  
"Maybe they decided to sleep in." Link also spoke quietly. There was no sound except the distant ticking of Clock Tower, and neither of them wanted to speak too loudly into the stillness.  
Link decided to go to South Clock Town. There were always lots of people there. Tatl flew back into his hat where she usually stayed. All the carpenters were gone. The only living thing there was the dog. It ran up to Link and barked. He patted it on the head.  
"Where is everyone?" he wondered aloud. "They should be here, they're safe now!" The dog barked again.  
"I don't suppose you would know," Link said to the dog. It simply barked again. "Didn't think so." Link left the dog and went to West Clock Town. Again, it was empty, except for the guy who ran the bank. Link talked to him and tried to ask him about the people, but he ignored the question and asked him if he wanted to deposit or withdraw rupees, as usual. Confused, and starting to feel nervous, Link walked the rest of the way along West Clock Town, meeting no one except the guard blocking they way to Termina field.  
For the next few hours, Link traveled all around Termina. Everywhere he went, the people acted just like they did when they had all their problems. The swamp was still poisoned, the Goron lands were still freezing. As he exited Ikana Canyon, Link looked back up at the sky. The moon was still nowhere to be seen, but another problem made itself clear. In all this time, the sun hadn't moved an inch.  
"Tatl..." Link called, his voice strained.  
"What?"  
"Shouldn't it be night by now?"  
"Yeah, it should." The fairy looked up at the sky.  
"So why hasn't the sun moved?" Link looked worriedly at her.  
"That's wierd. I knew something felt off about this."  
"What's going on? Why does everyone act as though nothing happened? Where are all the people in Clock Town?" Link's voice rose as he started to panic.  
"I-I don't know."  
A few days later, or it could have been hours, or weeks, Link had completed all four temples, fought all four bosses, and freed all four giants. The sun and moon hadn't moved at all; it was always morning. Link had done everything he could for everyone he could find outside of Clock Town, and yet, he felt like he was doing nothing. A while after the strange fourth day had started, he had figured it out. There was no time. It had stopped. Completing the temples and trying to save everyone was pointless. He still did what he could but nothing ever _happened_ anymore.  
Link kept denying it; once he freed the giants, he searched the entire land for hidden treasures. His bank account was completely filled, he had collected all the masks outside Clock Town, he had done absolutely everything he could. Link had tried again and again to find a way back to Hyrule, but nothing he did could move the door in the basement of the clock tower. He couldn't get anything done, so he wandered around pointlessly, talking to people who always said the same thing. Finally, he couldn't stand it anymore.  
Back in Clock Town, Link pulled out the Ocarina of Time. He no longer minded reliving the same days over and over; anything was better than this emptiness. Tatl had been begging him do reset time for a while now, so he finally said yes. He put the ocarina to his lips, and the Song of Time rang out in the silence. After he finished, nothing happened. Link froze. How could it not have worked? He tried to move, but he couldn't. Link was rooted to the spot, ocarina still in his mouth.  
An eternity passed. Time could not be changed when there was no time, so Link stood, frozen. If he could move, tears would be streaming down his face. He felt so hopeless and completely alone. Tatl either did not or could not talk to him. Surely, this was some nightmare. The stress had gotten to him, Link had to be sleeping in his room at the Stock Pot Inn. Or, maybe even Termina was just a dream. Any moment he would wake up back in his home in the forest. This couldn't be real, he couldn't just stand here frozen forever. But Link could not wake up.  
"I told you not to do it."  
"I wanted to try! I thought I could finish all the temples in one go and not keep having to reset everything!" The young boy scowled and threw down the controller. "Now he's just standing there, frozen." His older brother smiled grimly.  
"The fourth day glitch doesn't work like that. Once you do it, you're stuck."  
"Now I'm gonna have to reset the game! When did I last save?"  
"I think right after you finished the Great Bay Temple."  
"What!? But I'm gonna lose everything in Ikana Canyon! I finished the Stone Tower Temple!"  
"Well, at least you know how to do it now." The young boy stared at Link, frozen on the screen. He sighed, then pressed reset. The screen turned black, and that world vanished.


End file.
